Short minute video showcasing tested duels

What are Madness Duels?

Madness Duel is a cooperative animation format designed for two people. The process entails passing the .FLA file from one animator to another (from here "Player1" and "Player2"). Please make sure you share a compatible version of Flash with your Opponent. 30 FPS. The duel is a turn-based format, where Player1 and Player2 animate their respective characters one round at a time.

How does it work?

General overview:

• Player1 goes first.
• Both players must animate only their own character (and any items (when relevant)) moving and acting for 25 Frames during their turn.
• Once a Player has finished their turn, they pass the .FLA file to their opponent. Your opponent then has to animate his character responding to your actions.
• You cannot affect the actions that have already been made by your opponent in any way during your turn. (Accept through Retcon rules, seen below). I.e: You can't attack them, perform an action that would interrupt or affect their action (throwing something at them, taking away their weapon, knocking it away). Each turn that has been animated is set in stone. And cannot be changed by either side for the duration of the duel.

Retcon rules:

However. Each Player can utilize a mechanic known as the "5 Frame Rule". It can be applied:

• When the two characters come into direct contact, or are indirectly "connected" by an object held by both sides.
• Only to the last 5 Frames of your opponent's last turn. On your turn, you can modify or change those last 5 frames of the animation, with the intention of better aligning or altering your opponents actions with yours. If a shot was fired on Frame 20 of the opponent's turn - it must remain fired at the start of your turn. However, after that you can change the angle of the weapon, and affect it in any other way, that preserves the intention of existing animation, but in a way that would benefit you, in any way you see fit. This also allows you to interact with your opponent's character in the same manner.

The Goal of the duel is to land a blow on your opponent's character. Classic rules state, that any hit dealt to you by the opponent using the weapon of choice (see below) counts as your defeat.

What are "Classic" Rules?

The Duel is a very fluid format or animation. Practically any aspect of it can be changed by the players. In fact, customization of the ruleset is encouraged by the Creator Team. This format can hardly be truly competitive (work is in progress), so we ask you to consider this just as an exercise for Fun. Feel free to achieve that however you please. Within our server or outside. However, as a baseline we offer you our "Classic" ruleset, which should serve as a non-restrictive, but still a definitive starting point, for any duelist to be able to grasp the base concept. A baseline. A template, if you will. And we are more than willing and interested in developing the "Classic" ruleset as we receive your feedback.

Here's the current Classic ruleset:

1) No starting items. (Unless agreed upon)

2) No powers.

3) Action limit of 25 Frames.

4) Retcon limit of 5 Frames.

------4.1) Retcon applicable only upon contact.

5) Player switch happens on 6 Turn.

--- 5.1) At the start of the turn, Player1 and Player2 switch places, so the turn starts with Player2 animating first. The Players keep switching till the end of the duel.

6) Instant Kill.

------6.1) A killing blow can only be delivered by the "Chosen Weapon", which is the firearm (or other) chosen for the duel. Only a gunshot is considered as a killing blow.

7) Only one Chosen Weapon is present in the duel. As well as ammo. Both have to be in a neutral position in relation to both Players.

------7.1) If applicable, at the start of the duel the weapon is considered: unloaded (no ammo in the weapon), unchambered (no bullet in the chamber), decocked (hammer down), safety off, single-fire mode selected.

8) If the chosen weapon is rendered inoperable, or out of ammo, the duel can be called a Draw.

------ 8.1) Optionally , the Player who is not the one to fire the last shot , can choose a spot, where another instance of the chosen weapon or ammo is summoned (in a fashion similar to how it was initially, if possible (but not necessarily in the same location)). However it cannot be summoned closer than it initially was at the start of the duel to the Player who summons it.

---------- 8.1.1) The weapon has to be summoned in a neutral state (lying, hanging still). It is summoned "out of turn"/instantly at the start of the turn of the Player who summons the weapon/ammo.

---------- 8.1.2) No less than 2 rounds/units/instances of ammo can be summoned.

9) In case of a jump/dive/any action that puts a character mid-air, if the character does not land within their turn, the player must indicate the spot they will land at.

----- 9.1) Slides and wall-runs (that have not yet made the jump off the wall) are not affected by rule 8.

10) If an item is thrown/kicked or slid across the floor, but does not finish it's movement within the Throwers turn, they must indicate the spot it will end its movement at.

----- 10.1) If the item thrown is the Opponent, the Thrower needs to indicate the landing position, however the person being Thrown can adjust their landing position within reason.

----- 10.2) Items thrown at the Opponent that couldn't make it past their frame limit should have it's trajectory drawn using the line tool as guide to where it will hit or go.

Rules above are what we will call Classic duel. However, as the format evolves so will these.

Addendum.

A few more things to help you in your dueling experience. These are not rules, but merely suggestions to enhance your personal experience. As well as to maintain order and a healthy mindset.

First of all, we want to again state that this is more of a cooperative animation exercise. It can be exciting, involving, intense even, but it's important to remember that the best way to approach this is not so much to win, but style on your opponent. Don't give in to the temptation to try hard and try to win at all costs, because it will all quickly break down and no one will enjoy the experience.

The format relies on an unspoken honor system. Because there is no definitive jump height for a Grunt, or how far he can reach with his hand. We will try to address that in our Competitive Mode, if there is interest, but so far it's solely about having fun, making a cool fight. Outsmarting your partner. Coming up with a cool move each turn.

The Instant Kill rule is there to encourage aggression, and also to avoid any ambiguous hits and arguments over them. Personally, I advise using a shotgun, because that will better represent the idea of the one hit kill.

However the choice of weapon is an open question. Again, it's advised to pick something that has a lot of "moving" parts, safeties, slides, bolts, hammers, cylinders, manual reloads and other quirks you can actually incorporate into your list of options during the duel. Pump and Revolver-style shotguns feel like a perfect choice.

But above all, remember to experiment. The classic rules are here to get people into the swing of things. After your first duel, look for ways you think you and your partner can improve the format to what appeals most to you.

Don't like InstantKill - Go for a wound system.

Just killing is boring - go for a capture the flag style objective.

Animate multiple characters. Attack-Defense format. Environmental effects. Reverse gravity. Addons. Mods. Mutators.

Have ideas on how to balance the Classic rules? Tell us!

Right now we are experimenting with a Room system. If you wanna have a duel, we offer our server as a hosting arena.

We will be offering each player a private room-channel on the server, a place to write down the rules you both agree to use, have discussions, to share files and so on.

That is mostly to test how viable this style of organization is for possible future Competitive mode, and a Global Scoreboard.

This is all we had to say. Thanks for popping by, best of luck. 

Go make a Solo movie please. 

Discord server representing the game

This was all written by none other than @tarrakaschprichwort